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Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF party wins control of parliament

The commission said it would announce the results of Zimbabwe’s presidential race, pitting President Emmerson Mnangagwa against opposition leader Nelson Chamisa, only after all the votes have come in from across the country.

Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF party wins control of parliament

An uneasy silence is settling over Zimbabwe's capital after people fled military and other security forces firing live ammunition to break up opposition protests over Monday's election results. At least one person was killed. (August 1)
AP

Supporter of Zimbabwean opposition MDC Alliance party, among them an elderly woman, react outside the MDC Alliance's headquarters in Harare on August 1, 2018, after the announcement of the election's official results.
Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party won the most seats in parliament, official results showed on August 1, as the count continued in the presidential race and the opposition MDC cried foul, alleging widespread fraud.(Photo: MARCO LONGARI, AFP/Getty Images)

HARARE, Zimbabwe – Zimbabwe’s ruling party has won a majority of seats in Parliament, the electoral commission announced Wednesday, as the country braced for the first official results of the presidential election.

The ruling ZANU-PF won 109 seats while the main opposition MDC party had 41 in the country’s 210-seat House of Assembly. The commission said two seats were won by smaller parties and 58 seats had yet to be declared.

The commission said it would announce the results of Zimbabwe’s presidential race, pitting President Emmerson Mnangagwa against opposition leader Nelson Chamisa, only after all the votes have come in from across the country.

Western and other election observers were set to give their first public assessments of the election and whether it was free and fair.

The opposition alleges the elections have irregularities, saying voting results were not posted outside one-fifth of polling stations as required by law.

Mnangagwa’s government, meanwhile, accused Chamisa and his supporters of inciting “violence” by already declaring he had won the election, the first after former leader Robert Mugabe stepped down in November.

“Let me also warn such individuals and groups that no one is above the law,” Home Affairs Minister Obert Mpofu said. Security forces “will remain on high alert and continue to monitor the security situation in the country.”

The possibility of confrontation is an unnerving reminder of the tensions that pervade this southern African nation, debilitated by Mugabe’s long rule. The 94-year-old former leader had been in power since independence from white minority rule in 1980 until he was forced to resign after the military and ruling ZANU-PF party turned on him.

Mnangagwa, a former deputy president who fell out with Mugabe and then took over from him, has said his showing in the presidential polls was “extremely positive” while urging people to wait for official results.

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Supporters of the opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), protest against alleged widespread fraud by the election authority and ruling party, after the announcement of election's results, in the streets of Harare, on Aug. 1, 2018. Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party won the most seats in parliament, official results showed on Aug. 1, 2018, but EU observers criticised the Zimbabwe elections for being held on an "un-level playing field."
LUIS TATO, AFP/Getty Images

Zimbabwean anti-riot police officers close the entrance to the Rainbow Towers where the election's results were announced, as supporters of the opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), protest against alleged widespread fraud by the election authority and ruling party, in Harare, on Aug. 1, 2018.
LUIS TATO, AFP/Getty Images

A Zimbabwean soldier beats a man in a street of Harare on Aug. 1, 2018 as protests erupted over alleged fraud in the country's election. One man was shot dead, AFP witnessed, after the Zimbabwean army opened fire in central Harare on Wednesday as protests erupted over alleged fraud in the country's election. President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Aug. 1 called for peace as police fired water cannon and teargas at opposition supporters in Harare over alleged fraud in Zimbabwe's elections.
ZINYANGE AUNTONY, AFP/Getty Images

A supporter of Zimbabwean opposition MDC Alliance push a barrel in front of a fire in Harare on Aug. 1, 2018, as protests erupted over alleged fraud in the country's election.
LUIS TATO, AFP/Getty Images

People stand near blood stains on the pavement while the Zimbabwean Army patrols the streets of Harare on Aug. 1, 2018 as protests erupted over alleged fraud in the country's election.
MARCO LONGARI, AFP/Getty Images

Supporters of the opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), protest against alleged widespread fraud by the election authority and ruling party, after the announcement of election's results, in the streets of Harare, on Aug. 1, 2018.
LUIS TATO, AFP/Getty Images

A supporter of the main opposition party claiming victory, celebrates outside the party headquarters in Harare, Zimbabwe, July, 31, 2018. Zimbabweans are awaiting the first results from an election that they hope will lift the country out of economic and political stagnation after decades of rule by former leader Robert Mugabe.
Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi, AP

Ballot papers are poured onto a table as the counting of the votes begins during the Zimbabwean General Election at the at St Peter's Church polling station in the suburb of Mbare on July 30, 2018 in Harare, Zimbabwe.
Dan Kitwood, Getty Images

People queue early in the morning outside a polling station located in the suburb of Mbare in Zimbabwe's capital Harare, on July 30, 2018 to vote during general elections.
Zimbabwe goes to the polls in its first election since authoritarian leader Robert Mugabe was ousted last year, with allegations mounting of voter fraud and predictions of a disputed result.
LUIS TATO, AFP/Getty Images

Former Zimbabwean Leader President Robert Mugabe casts his vote at a polling station in Harare, Zimbabwe, Monday, July 30, 2018. Zimbabweans are voting in their first election without Robert Mugabe on the ballot, and with some 5.5 million people registered to vote.
Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi, AP

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa leaves the polling station after casting his vote for the presidential elections at the Sherwood Primary School in Kwekwe, Zimbabwe, July 30, 2018.
Jerome Delay, AP

Chamisa, a lawyer and pastor who leads the opposition Movement for Democratic Change party, has gone further, saying his own count shows that he won the election and that he’s ready to form the next government.

“We won the popular vote & will defend it!” Chamisa tweeted Wednesday morning.

Zimbabweans desperately hope the peaceful vote, which took place Monday, will lift them out of economic and political stagnation after decades of Mugabe’s rule, but the country is haunted by a history of electoral violence and manipulation that means trust is scarce.

While the electoral commission has five days from the end of voting to release the final tally, the national mood is growing anxious partly because unofficial results are already swirling on social media.

Dozens of opposition supporters gathered Tuesday evening at their headquarters in the capital, Harare, celebrating in the belief that they had won the presidential election based on results they said they collected from agents in the field.

As they danced to music blasting from speakers set up on a truck, police with water cannon circulated in the area.